


How To Get A Squirrel To Like You

by Asterhythm



Series: Winter Lander [5]
Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Blood, Dorm Life - Freeform, Emesis, Kang Taehyun Needs A Hug, M/M, Snow, Vicodin, Wisdom Teeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asterhythm/pseuds/Asterhythm
Summary: The obvious answer: climb up a tree and act like a nut. The not so obvious answer: take care of him after he gets his wisdom teeth pulled.The Taegyu in this fic can either be romantic or platonic; it's mostly Gyu taking care of Tyun and Tyun being an adorable mess.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu & Kang Taehyun, Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun
Series: Winter Lander [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031571
Comments: 2
Kudos: 74





	How To Get A Squirrel To Like You

**Author's Note:**

> A fun note: this is DIRECTLY based off of my own experiences when I had my wisdom teeth taken out. They gave me Vicodin. I was in high schooler and turned back into a kindergartener for five days. The climax point really did happen to me, but instead of Beomgyu it was my mom helping me out. Love you Mom :D :D 
> 
> It should be noted that since we're dealing with wisdom teeth there's a LOT of blood mentions, in addition to one instance of throwing up. Most people should be fine, but if you're not okay with vomit or blood at ALL this probably isn't the fic for you.

_ How To Get A Squirrel To Like You  
Genre: Oneshot/HurtComfort  
Word Count: 3531  
Band: TXT  
Ship: Taegyu (either romantic or platonic)  
Written: January 17-21, 2021  
Spice Alert: None _

Bang PD-nim calls the remaining four members of TXT into his office after Taehyun is on his way to the dentist.

“We have confiscated Taehyun’s mobile phone,” he explains. “You should consider going on a social media hiatus for a couple of days, as well. Or post approved selcas only. The world knows Taehyun’s going in for surgery, they know he will be out for a couple of days, most of you are on a break from your duties as well until he’s right again. But be  _ very  _ careful what you post, and above all else, do  _ not  _ let Taehyun take your cell phones from you.”

“Uh, why not?” the ever innocent Hueningkai asks.

Bang PD-nim pauses, because he has to word his next few sentences  _ very  _ carefully. “They’re going to have Taehyun on painkillers, and if my calculations are correct, they have the possibility to make Taehyun  _ very  _ loopy. Beomgyu, Soobin, you both remember when you had yours taken out?”

“I…” Now that Beomgyu thinks about it, he doesn’t remember  _ all  _ that much. “I think I slept through most of mine.”

“Same,” Soobin agrees.

“And you remember how you were so in pain that you couldn’t do anything during that time? Well, they want to try a different pain medication on Taehyun this time. So he should be feeling better than either of you did, but it has some interesting side effects. I’m going to need the four of you to keep an eye on him, help him out, get food when he needs it, and above all else, do  _ not  _ let him post on social media. Ever. Understood?”

The four boys nod. “Understood.” It’s just Kang Taehyun, who carefully crafts his social media persona, who always takes the most captivating selcas, who is always careful even when he is full on in maknae mode, off the camera. Nothing can go wrong.

Taehyun arrives back at the dorms later that day and immediately goes to his room to sleep. Normalcy soon resumes, though all four agree that at least  _ someone  _ should stay back at the dorms for when he wakes up. So Beomgyu stays behind to practice the guitar while Yeonjun and Soobin go to work out, and Hueningkai goes shopping downstairs for snacks.

It’s about an hour later when Taehyun emerges. 

Beomgyu hears the door to Taehyun’s room open, and he is expecting a “Hello?” or an “Who’s all here?” Instead, he gets a long, low groan, like if he went to sleep sick and drank too much cough syrup. And Beomgyu makes the mistake of turning around. Taehyun is covered in a blanket, his blonde hair is all over the place, and both of his cheeks look like he shoved two strawberries into them. 

“Gyuuuuuuuuuuu,” he manages to say, but it comes out more as “uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.”

Beomgyu tries to keep from cracking up and fails. “What are -- Taehyun, are you okay?”   


“Uuuuuuuuuuuuu.” Taehyun smiles. His smile is as adorable as ever, but Beomgyu can see some of the gauze peeking out at this point. He knows that Taehyun’s entire upper mouth is stitched up, that the gauze is in there to stop some of the bleeding, and he can’t change the gauze until a nurse stops by later. Then, Taehyun giggles, takes a step forward, and nearly falls onto the carpet, grabbing the wall for support. He then slow-rolls into a ball, taking his blanket with him, laying on the floor.

Beomgyu puts his guitar down. There will be no more music writing today. “Taehyun, are you okay?”

Taehyun is still giggling, then, “Owwwwwww.”

“Does your mouth hurt?” The freezer has been stocked full of ice packs. “Do you need an ice pack?”

“Icie pack.” Taehyun mumbles something else under his breath, and when Beomgyu looks at him, Taehyun almost looks a little glossy eyed. Beomgyu has to wonder what medication they have him on, to have him this loopy and acting like a kid. Normal Taehyun would never do this. But then, “Icie, icie.” Taehyun looks up at Beomgyu from under the blanket, big eyes starting to tear up. “Icie.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll get you your icie.” Beomgyu tries not to laugh again as he goes into the kitchen and gets two ice packs, returning to Taehyun and wrapping him up on the floor so he can lay down and the ice packs stay in place. He looks like he’s in a cocoon now. “This okay?”

“Icie.” Taehyun smiles, then tries to talk and fails. “Gyuuuuuuuuuu.”

“I can’t understand you if that’s all you say,” Beomgyu says.

“Gyuuuu.” Taehyun stands up, suddenly, sending both ice packs to the floor. He stares down at them like a dog who has dropped his bone, then picks one up and immediately drops it. “Ahh!!” He shakes his hand, and then he starts crying. 

“I’ll take the ice packs for you, Taehyun. Where do you want to go?”

Taehyun looks around, then points at the couch. “Cowwwwwwwch.”

“Okay, let’s go. Bring your blanket, okay?” And Beomgyu walks Taehyun over to the couch, wraps him back up, puts his ice packs on, and then turns on the television. Cartoons start playing on some kids’ channel, and Taehyun pays attention for a while, bopping up and down to the music. He falls asleep just as the Pororo marathon finishes, and Beomgyu lets him stay there. 

At this point, he actually looks peaceful. So Beomgyu takes a picture, but remembering what PD-nim said, he does not post it. 

The others come home, don’t bother Taehyun on the couch, order takeout, pass it around. The nurse finally stops by, drops off more medication, then wakes Taehyun up and changes his gauze out. “You should be able to do it on your own when you’re in between medication, like now,” she explains.

“It fucking hurts,” Beomgyu hears Taehyun mutter, half with a lisp, and they all laugh. He sounds  _ much  _ more like Taehyun at the moment. Then, the nurse shoves the pills down Taehyun’s throat and puts more gauze in.

“Twice a day for tomorrow and the next day. At that point, it should stop bleeding and you can remove the gauze. The stitches will dissolve on their own.”

“Weird,” Kai says, but he’s never been through this before. 

The nurse leaves, and with that, they are on their own. Soobin and Yeonjun go to bed, as they’re going to try and keep at least a regular practice schedule for the next two days. Hueningkai eats a half of a tub of ice cream, and Taehyun decides he’s sharing, attempting to spoon some of the other half into his mouth. But Taehyun’s motor skills aren’t the best when he’s hopped up on whatever-this-is, and half of the ice cream ends up on his shirt. 

“When you’re done, we need you to get changed,” Beomgyu says, grabbing an extra white t-shirt from somewhere in the mess that is their combined closet. 

Taehyun pays no attention, but instead takes a huge scoop of half-melted vanilla ice cream and shoves it into Beomgyu’s face instead. Beomgyu  _ just  _ manages to eat it before it leaves the spoon. “Yah! Taehyun-ah! You’re making a mess, dude, I’m gonna need for you to  _ not.” _

“I was just finishing this,” Hueningkai says. “The rest of it’s melted.” And he gets up to throw it away. 

Beomgyu taps Taehyun on the shoulder. “Really, dude, we need to get this shirt off you --”

“Nooo.” Taehyun crosses his arms over his chest, getting more melted ice cream everywhere. “Noooo. Is...shirt.”

Beomgyu sighs, then reaches around Taehyun’s middle, trying to pull the shirt up on his own. “It’s covered in ice cream, dude.” And Taehyun pouts, but eventually raises his arms long enough for Beomgyu to whip the ice-cream-covered shirt off, then grab a towel and sponge bath his face, then whip a clean one on. “There. Better?”

“Gyuuu.” Taehyun grabs onto one of Beomgyu’s arms; this isn’t an odd occurrence, Taehyun does this all the time, but there’s a more childlike element to it now. “Love Gyu.” And he leans his shoulder on Beomgyu’s, and within five seconds, Taehyun is asleep, and Beomgyu is stuck.

Beomgyu eventually wiggles free and goes to sleep in his own bed, but wakes up at seven in the morning to a knocking on his door that sounds more like someone is throwing themselves at the door instead. Soobin is already awake. Beomgyu opens the door, and Taehyun is standing there, blanket on his head, tapioca pearls peeking out.

“Icie.”

“You need more ice packs? Isn’t anybody else home?”

“Icie,” a long pause and some more mumbling, and then, “Gyu.” Taehyun tugs on Beomgyu’s shirt sleeve.

“Oh, you wanted  _ me  _ to get it for you.” 

“Gyu love me.” Each word is slowly enunciated. 

“All right, yah, I’ll get it.” Beomgyu goes to the kitchen and gets two new ice packs, and Taehyun waves his hands and  _ yay!! _ s when Beomgyu puts them on his cheeks. Then he trots over to the couch again, curling the blanket around him and kicking the low table in front, saying something else until Beomgyu realizes he’s asking for the TV. Beomgyu’s not sure what to put on, so he just leaves it on KBS for now and goes back to his room.

He’s in the middle of a Switch game when Taehyun’s suddenly standing over him. He sounds a bit more coherent now, but all that comes out is, “I’m hungry, and I…” and he points at his mouth. 

“Oh, more meds?”

“Yeah.”

Beomgyu searches for the pill bottle and the gauze, ripping off as much as needed. He gets a glass of water and dispenses two pills into Taehyun’s hand, then gives him the glass. But Taehyun puts down the pills on the table, slow, then reaches inside his mouth as one of them rolls off the table. Beomgyu picks it up and then looks up to see Taehyun pulling out some  _ very disgusting looking  _ gauze from his mouth. 

There are tears in his eyes. “God, fuck, it hurts so bad.” 

“Take the pills then, man.”

“Mmhmm.” Taehyun pops one in, then swallows water, then repeats the process. His mouth is too numb to hold suction properly, and water goes  _ everywhere  _ again, but Taehyun holds up his hand and then flashes an  _ okay  _ sign. He then pulls off some of the gauze and tries to shove it into his mouth, but then spits it back out.

“Here.” Beomgyu unrolls some of it, packing it in tightly, then taps on Taehyun’s mouth. Taehyun opens it as far as it will go without hurting -- which for Taehyun is still quite far -- and Beomgyu slips it into the top right of his mouth, followed by a new ball in the top left. 

“Good?”

“Mmmmn.” The gauze in his mouth removes Taehyun’s ability to be understood again. 

“Okay. Rest for a while, all right?”

“Mmmhmmm. Love Gyu.”

“Haha, I love you too, buddy.” Beomgyu retreats to  _ Super Smash Bros,  _ then films a new video for TikTok in the comfort of his bedroom,  _ far  _ away from Taehyun. He’s just about to post it when he hears a  _ huge  _ crash come from the living room, and he runs out to check on Taehyun. Taehyun is fine -- but in the process of trying to grab himself something from the freezer, he has loosened all of the ice packs carefully stacked in there, and several of them have fallen out.

“I got this,” he says as Taehyun says  _ ow ow ow  _ over and over again. Beomgyu picks up the ice packs and tosses them all back in, then takes two and motions to Taehyun. “You want these?”

Taehyun shakes his head with the fervor typically reserved for a first grader. “Icie.”

“Ice cream?”

Taehyun grins. There’s just a  _ little  _ bit of drool dripping from the bottom of his mouth. “Icie!”

“Okay, let me actually get you a smaller bowl.” Beomgyu has to wonder if this is training for having a two-year-old child...someday, centuries from now, or possibly in an alternate dimension or in some MOA’s fanfiction. All Taehyun has eaten for the last twenty four hours has been ice cream and congee, but it’s not like he’s not eating, thank goodness. Beomgyu puts ice cream in a smaller bowl and walks it over to Taehyun. “Do you want to do it, or should I feed you?”

Taehyun grabs for the bowl and fails. Beomgyu sighs. “You can’t even hold a spoon when you’re this high, can you?”

“Spoon.”

“I got it.” Beomgyu puts a little bit of ice cream on the spoon and feeds it to Taehyun. The boy has a  _ very  _ stretchy mouth, but he can barely open it, so Beomgyu has to be careful. “Swallow it quick, okay?”

“Icie.”

“I know, it’s good, isn’t it?”

“Mmmmmmmmm. Thank you, Gyuuuu.”

“You’re welcome.” They continue like this for a bit until Taehyun stops for a moment, then sticks his hand inside his mouth, possibly to reposition his gauze. Then, he stares at Beomgyu again.

“Icie.”

“Okay, okay,” Beomgyu says, putting more ice cream on the spoon, but when he puts it in Taehyun’s mouth, Taehyun squeals, then waves his hands. “Dude, you have to hold still if I’m going to put it in your mouth --”

Taehyun squeals again,  _ loud,  _ and shoves Beomgyu away before all of the ice cream comes back out of his mouth. Then, it sounds like Taehyun chokes, and he shoves his hand  _ inside his mouth,  _ grabbing at something. Beomgyu almost leans forward to help him until Taehyun coughs, and then he spits up a mixture that looks to be about half ice cream and half blood. Part of it ends up in his hand, but the rest of it dribbles down his shirt, onto his pants, and onto the couch. 

“Taehyun,” Beomgyu whispers, but Taehyun whines and then spits out the piece of gauze that he had choked on. It is  _ covered  _ in melted vanilla ice cream, and the whole mixture stinks.

“I threw…” 

“I’ll get some towels,” Beomgyu says, running up from his spot to the kitchen. He grabs the entire paper towel roll, then returns to Taehyun’s side. Taehyun is sitting still, hasn’t moved since he spit everything up. There’s a frown on his face, and his glossy eyes are staring off into space.

“Taehyunnie.” Beomgyu puts two paper towels in Taehyun’s messed up hand. “We gotta get you cleaned off, okay --”

And then Taehyun starts to  _ cry.  _ But it’s not a typical cry that comes from Taehyun. It’s a  _ wail,  _ something like if Kai had lost his favorite Molang, or if a dog was howling outside their door. Taehyun puts his hands to his mouth, half still holding the paper towels, as he keeps  _ wailing,  _ uninterrupted, with no abandon.

Beomgyu is too in shock to do anything properly, but while Taehyun cries, he wipes Taehyun’s pants and the couch off quickly. “I gotta get the rest of you.”

“It hurts,” Taehyun sobs. “It hurts!!!”

Beomgyu manages a quick wipe over Taehyun’s mouth before Taehyun leans forward, putting his forehead on Beomgyu’s shoulder. And he just keeps  _ crying,  _ and he won’t stop, and he’s still covered in junk, and he’s gonna need new gauze for that part of his mouth and Beomgyu wonders if his entire mouth is full of blood right now. 

“It hurts.”

“I know, Tyunnie, I know.” And all Beomgyu can do is keep Taehyun’s head steady, reaching over to pat him on the back. Beomgyu knows how much it hurts. He’s been there before. But he can’t magically fix this for Taehyun. All he can do is hold him as tight as he can, and he suddenly realizes,  _ screw it,  _ there’s a thing called laundry for a reason.

Taehyun whimpers when Beomgyu pulls him into his lap, wrapping both arms around him. But he rests his head on Beomgyu’s chest now, and Beomgyu’s shirt stains but he’s done caring, and Taehyun whimpers in a soft cry that seems to last forever. Beomgyu hears a door open and close behind him, wonders if it’s Soobin, but he doesn’t care. Right now, he just needs to let Taehyun cry it out. 

Taehyun eventually stops, then looks up at Beomgyu, and  _ then  _ looks at Beomgyu’s shirt, and starts crying again. “Shirt!”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just a shirt. How about we put my shirt and your shirt in the wash, okay? Can we do that?” And Beomgyu eventually gets Taehyun to stand up and give him his shirt, and the shirts do go in the wash, but it takes much longer than expected to do so. They sit shirtless on the washing machine for a bit, and Taehyun makes motor noises with his mouth, and Beomgyu can’t help but laugh at him. And then, Beomgyu gets them both new shirts, and he pops a new pad of gauze in Taehyun’s mouth. 

“You can eat more later, okay?”

“Okay Gyu.” Taehyun nearly throws himself at Beomgyu, like a limp rag doll, arms waving as his head connects with Beomgyu’s shoulder. “Love Gyu. Love Gyu soooooooooo much.”

“Haha, love you too, man, let’s get you back on the couch.” And somewhere between cartoons and the news, Taehyun falls asleep, and Beomgyu is relieved.

When Taehyun wakes up, he needs more medication, but he’s sane enough that he eats first,  _ then _ pops more gauze and pills. And as the entire dorm sleeps, a soft blanket of snow falls overnight, just enough to make something of it. Soobin and Yeonjun wake up first, going back out to play in it, and Beomgyu has to wonder if they’re actually going to be up to shenanigans this time. 

“Taehyun,” he whispers to the sleeping squirrel on the couch.

“Mmmmn. Gyu. Tired.”

“I know, bud. Do you need more medication yet?”

“No no no.”

“Okay. Guess what?”

“Hmm?”

“It snowed last night! You wanna see?”

Taehyun gasps, then, “Snoooooooooo!!” and then he gets up from the couch, dancing over to the window. It’s no longer snowing, but he can see the thin layer of white covering everything. “Snoooo! Wanna go...wanna play.”

“All right, hang on, dude.” Beomgyu reminds himself for the umpteenth time that taking Taehyun anywhere is like taking a five year old someplace. He gathers everything he will need, but only manages to get a coat, gloves, and a beanie on Taehyun. They then go out together, to the same protected alley where Soobin and Yeonjun are. Here, nobody can see them or take pictures of them. 

Taehyun runs around in the snow, bumping into things, accidentally setting off a car alarm. He tries to make snowballs, but the snow is too light and fluffy, so he ends up eating it instead, and then he cries when Yeonjun tells him not to. Beomgyu ends up sitting with Taehyun in the snow, making small piles and snow angels, and when Taehyun says it’s too cold he takes him inside and warms him up with instant ramyun. 

Taehyun pretty much drinks the broth. “Oooooooh. Yay sooooooup.”

Beomgyu shakes his head as he eats the noodles out of his bowl. “I’m gonna miss you when you go back to being a snot nosed brat. Who knew you’d let me be such a good  _ hyung  _ to you?”

And Taehyun leans his head on Beomgyu’s shoulder again. “Good, good  _ hyung.  _ Wanna...be good  _ hyung.” _

“Aish, you’re not the  _ hyung.” _

“Gyuuuuu  _ hyung.  _ Love Gyu.”

And Beomgyu wraps his arms around Taehyun. “I love you too, man. I really do.”

Taehyun is allowed to sleep off his last dose of meds, and in the morning, he tosses out the final pieces of  _ much less disgusting  _ gauze. Then, he stares at himself in the mirror. Hair is sticking up everywhere. He hasn’t done his skin care routine since this started. His mouth probably smells like  _ ass.  _ It still hurts, but not nearly as much as it did before. 

And Taehyun realizes to himself just how helpful Beomgyu has been the past few days. Taehyun has been  _ disgusting.  _ He has drooled on things, he has spilled ice cream all over himself, he  _ nearly threw up  _ all over Beomgyu, and Beomgyu has just kind of put up with it. Taehyun smiles. He’s sure Beomgyu knows how much he’s cared for, but he could certainly do something extra. 

He’s still not 100%, but he does go to the gym with Soobin and walks on the treadmill for a bit. And then, he places a takeout order online, grabbing it before he goes home. Beomgyu is in the kitchen, on his cell phone, when Taehyun taps him on the shoulder. 

Beomgyu looks up. Taehyun’s face still looks a little swollen, but at least his brain’s here now. “‘Sup?”

Taehyun puts the  _ tteokbokki  _ container on the counter. “Thank you. For...helping.” The words still come slow, but they are there.

Beomgyu stares in surprise, but smiles back, opening the container and taking out some chopsticks. “Anything for you.” And they share in silence, Beomgyu cutting the  _ tteokbokki  _ into smaller pieces for Taehyun and then splitting the plate 50/50, enjoying each other’s company, knowing they had each other no matter what. 


End file.
